Khanom Chan (Thai nine-layer coconut-pandan cake)

Method

1. Warm the coconut milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over low heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
2. Whisk the rice flour, 300 g tapioca starch, and arrowroot starch together in a large bowl. Whisk in the cooled coconut milk mixture in stages until smooth, then strain through a fine sieve to catch any lumps.
3. Weigh the batter and divide it evenly between two bowls. Leave one bowl plain, this is the coconut layer. Stir the pandan extract and the extra 30 g tapioca starch into the other bowl until the colour is even with no pale streaks, this is the pandan layer.
4. Lightly oil a 20×20 cm dish that fits inside your steamer with headroom above it. Bring the steamer water to a full boil, and wrap the underside of the lid in a clean tea towel so condensation does not drip onto the layers.
5. Steam the empty dish for 2 minutes to warm it. Stir the pandan batter well, since the starch settles fast, and ladle in a scant 200 ml, just enough to thinly and evenly coat the base. Cover and steam over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until the layer turns from glossy and liquid to matte and set, and springs back when touched.
6. Stir the coconut batter and ladle another thin, even layer directly over the set pandan layer. Steam the same way, 5 to 7 minutes, until set.
7. Keep alternating pandan and coconut layers, stirring each batter before every pour, until all nine layers are steamed. Finish on a pandan layer for the traditional look. Let the final layer steam a couple of minutes longer than the others to be sure it is fully set through.
8. Turn off the heat and let the khanom chan cool completely in the dish at room temperature, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Chilling is what lets you cut clean layers rather than a green-and-white smear.
9. Run a thin knife around the edge, turn the whole cake out onto a board, and cut into small diamonds with an oiled knife, wiping the blade clean between cuts.

Notes

• On pandan. Fresh pandan leaves are the traditional colouring and flavouring here, and give a grassy, faintly vanilla note that nothing else fully replicates. They are essentially impossible to buy fresh in Germany outside a handful of specialist Southeast Asian shops, and even then it is hit or miss. Pandan extract or paste, sold in small bottles at most Asian grocers, is the practical stand-in this recipe is written around; taste and look for a vivid green before committing the full amount, since concentration varies a lot by brand. If you do get hold of fresh leaves, blend about 100 g roughly chopped leaves with 200 ml water, strain hard through a muslin cloth or clean tea towel, and use that juice in place of the extract, adjusting the coconut milk down a little since the juice adds extra liquid. If pandan is entirely unavailable, you can colour the coconut layer green with a scant 1/2 teaspoon of matcha powder or a pinch of spirulina instead. Be honest with yourself that this only fixes the colour: the dessert will look the part but taste like a plainer, more generic coconut layer cake rather than khanom chan.
• Every layer needs to actually set, glossy and wobbly is not done yet, before you pour the next one, or the layers will bleed into each other and the cross-section will look muddy instead of striped.
• Keeps refrigerated, covered, for up to 4 days. Serve cold or at cool room temperature; the texture firms up noticeably straight from the fridge and softens again after 15 to 20 minutes out.
• This does not freeze well, the starch gel turns grainy and weeps on thawing.

Sources Consulted

• Hungry in Thailand, “Khanom Chan Recipe (Authentic Thai Layer Cake)”
• Rachel Cooks Thai, “Khanom Chan (Thai Layered Dessert)”

From Christoph Mayer

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